Soul Food

Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. —Jeremiah 15:16

Grocery shopping with my wife, Martie, is like taking a seminar in nutrition. I’ll often pick up a box of something that looks good, and she’ll say: “Look at the label. Are there trans-fats? What’s the calorie count? How about the cholesterol rating?” I have to confess that if she weren’t the nutrition cop in my life, I’d look like Shamu the whale!

More important than making good choices in the grocery store is thinking carefully about the food we digest for our souls. I love the verse that says: “Your words were found, and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16).

When we read God’s Word, we have to be doing more than checking it off our to-do list. We have to read it to digest it. Slow, thoughtful absorption of the Word of God with quiet reflection on its implications is high in nutrition. His Word provides all the ingredients we need to thrive spiritually:

a direct connection to the sustainer of our soul

brain food that makes us wise and discerning

a daily check-up revealing the condition of our hearts

preventive medicine keeping us from sin

a spiritual shower of peace, hope, and comfort

Eat God’s Word. It’s a spiritual feast!

God’s Word provides the nourishment
That Christians need if we’re to grow;
But if we do not feast on it,
A vibrant faith we’ll never know. —Sper

About Joe Stowell

Joe serves as the President of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cornerstone supports his web ministry, Strength for the Journey, which features daily devotionals, video devotionals, and weekly messages with downloadable study guides.

Joe and his wife, Martie, are the parents of three adult children and ten grandchildren.